British Columbia has over 20Prostate Cancer Support Groupsmeet once a month. This group is focused on providing help to Chinese-speaking men, but everyone is welcome. We speak Mandarin, Cantonese and English. We meet onthe second Thursday of every monthfrom 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Richmond Public Library (2/F Brighouse Main Branch, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC V6Y 1R8). Please register online atThe Richmond Public Library website (or call 604-231-6413 for registration). Join us forthe professional presentation and talk to other men and family members who have been dealing with prostate cancer for weeks, months or even years.

If you want to chat with a survivor one on one, you may drop in our walking club.The Richmond Blue Walkerswalk on every Tuesdays and Thursdays 9-11am, 5-10 km along the beautiful river dykes and parks in Richmond (Walk in the Richmond Shopping Centre during the raining days or cold seasons). Click here for the scheduleor contact Daniel Leung at 604-836-6423 for the locations and meeting places.

THE STORY:

Prostate cancer is a disease that has impacted my family directly, as my father, Daryl, 59, was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer in January 2014. The doctors told him that he likely only had 1-3 years to live. However, here we are three years later.

I will always remember the day when my parents came home from getting the results, and they sat my siblings and I down, and told us that Dad had cancer, and it was “really bad.”

From that day forward, we would always have a pit in our stomach, and a overhanging fear of the “worst” actually happening.

Through the course of these past three years, my Dad has received many forms of treatment, ranging from chemotherapy, radiation, to various drug therapies, which have at times, made his cancer dissipate into almost nothing.

However, we have also had our fair share of down periods, where in fact, one of the drugs he was on had a 10% chance of feeding the cancer, and it did exactly that; the cancer came back stronger than ever.

Luckily, he was able to go on a novel drug that reversed the effects of that prior drug, and for the past two years, he has been able to live a fairly normal life: golfing, hiking, vacationing, and spending time with his family and friends.

Unfortunately, in the past few months his “numbers,” or PSA (an important indicator for determining how much cancer is in his body) have continued to rise, and the current drug therapy he is on has started to lose its effect.

The only thing that gives us a glimmer of hope is that there are other trial drugs out on the market that could potentially help him in his fight, however, they are not for certain.

The pit and overhanging fear continues, and I can tell you first hand, that having a father, or in my Mom’s case, a husband of over thirty years, sick with cancer, causes an overwhelming amount of stress and never-ending upset. Every doctor’s appointment for instance, where we receive the results for that month, we have to hold our breath and hope for the best. We know that things could change at any moment, and unfortunately we are currently in that period, where things have changed.

Having said that, my father has shown through his own actions, that we cannot give up, we cannot submit to the cancer diagnosis that is trying to cut his life short. He has chosen to continue living life as normal, and his positive attitude and strength, has allowed us to carry on with our lives.

When you are dealing with an advanced stage diagnosis, it is all about buying time, and the prospect of new drugs on the market that could aid in the fight, allows for hope. That is why raising funds for future research is so important.

Please donate to this worthy cause, any amount will be greatly appreciated.